Happy Birthday, Son

The best day of my life was one year ago today. My thoughtful wife labored alone throughout the previous night, letting me sleep until she was sure "it was time." We stayed at home for a little while and called Kathy the Doula and Sarema's best friend Kymi to let them know we were on our way to the hospital. Kymi drove three hours from San Jose and met us at the hospital where Sarema was laboring in the jacuzzi.
Things progressed quickly and Sarema was able to follow through on her desire to give birth to Hunter without the aid of any pain-killing drugs. It's an understatement to say that I gained a whole new level of respect for my wife and her strength of character by her enduring that amount of pain for our son. Thank goodness for Kathy and Kymi, who helped both Sarema and me immensely throughout the experience.
Hunter was born a little before 11am with an American flag waving right next to our second-story window... as if I needed any reminder that my time with Hunter was going to be short before I came over here to serve my country.
So, in the last 365 days, I've been able to spend about 45 of them with Hunter and Sarema. I do know something from the time I did get with them: God has blessed me with a perfect son and a wonderful wife who was put on this earth to be a fantastic mother.
Happy Birthday, Hunter. Hopefully, I'll see you tonite on iChat.